We wake early, get breakfast from room service and pack. Then downstairs to get a taxi to catch our train - the doorman tells us the trains are all on strike today!

The concierges are entirely unhelpful beyond confirming that no trains are running. We go to the station anyway to try to get a refund on our expensive long distance tickets - the entire organisation is very closed. Pissed off tourists are yelling at innocent security guards!

So new plan - we take a taxi to Avis central Athens and get them to change our booking on our car from Larissa in the north to here - the guy at Avis is fantastic - he fixes our problems, upgrades our car and gives us directions, advice and cold water. This 50 year old corporate man was one of the friendliest, fantastic folk we met in Greece. So we drive out of Athens (Pretty much the specific thing I didn’t want to do) and head north.

We drive through rural Greece on a fast highway and then country roads. At a roadside stop I meet a German couple and baby who had driven their camper through Italy and Albania and were heading south to Athens. As we approach Meteora we begin to see the towering rock - amazing sheer lumps dwarfing everything around them - they are spectacular and unlike anything we have seen before.

We follow google through some insanely windy, narrow, mountain roads to our hotel. The place is great - lots of space, fantastically well equipped and finished. This little mountain town hotel is better in every way than the high end luxury hotels in Athens. From our balcony the amazing rock towers all around.

We walk into town and eat in a local taverna - drink great retsina. Very glad to be staying here for a few days.